By Michelle Richardson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
The press is reporting a big win for the White House yesterday in its ability to stop a more moderate spying bill from supplanting a grossly more intrusive one in the Senate debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reauthorization. But the bigger story is that those senators concerned with the privacy rights of innocent Americans are poised to turn the tide and reclaim some modicum of control over the government surveillance bill.
So what's next?
The Dems, under the leadership of Senator Harry Reid and with the help of Senator Jay Rockefeller (a good friend of the administration earlier in the debate on this bill), refused to let the minority ram through its substitute on Thursday and are finally forcing the Republicans to find 60 votes to kill the debate, prevent the amendments from being considered, and just move on. This Monday at 4:30 EST is do-or-die time – our first goal must be to urge a 'no' vote on cloture so that meaningful amendments can be considered. It could be the first time in recent history that the Democrats - who claim to want to protect the Constitution - stand up to the administration and say no. No more warrantless wiretapping of Americans, no more give-aways to the industries that fill politicians' coffers, no more hiding the unlawful acts of this administration.
If that means the so-called Protect America Act sunsets, so be it. As House Leader Hoyer and Senate Intel Chairman Rockefeller have noted, all current surveillance orders can be extended into 2009 even if the current law expires. The intel community won't be forced to end its current warrantless wiretapping and Congress will have the time to do, well, anything else besides pass this horrible Senate bill which is really the worst option out there to date. If no legislation is enacted before the sunset, the law simply reverts to the surveillance statutes in place as of last July – with the significant addition that plans authorized over the last six months may continue even if they have been authorized without appropriate judicial oversight.
More than ever it is crucial that you call your senator and urge a no vote on cloture – especially if your senator is one of the twelve - Bayh, Carper, Inouye, Johnson, Landrieu, McCaskill, Mikulski, Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Pryor, Salazar - who voted with the administration on Thursday. All we need is to knock a handful of them off the administration's bandwagon and we'll have an opportunity to get this right.